Sindh govt told to reply to plea against universities law

The Sindh High Court on Wednesday directed the provincial advocate general, the National Assembly speaker and others to file comments on a petition against a controversial Act that empowers the chief minister to control public universities instead of the governor.

Pasban President Altaf Shakoor said in the petition that the previous provincial assembly had passed the Sindh Universities & Institutes Laws (Amendment) Act 2018, which granted the chief executive complete powers over public universities by taking them from the governor.

Shakoor said that 24 public universities have been affected across the province as political and bureaucratic interference has been injected into educational institutions and would dim the future of students that was already on the wane.

He said the ruling political party had unlawfully passed the impugned amendments with incomplete quorum and without fulfilling the lawful and constitutional formalities, adding that the law changes the functions undertaken by the academic councils, such as formulating admission policies.

The petitioner said that under the impugned law, vice chancellors cannot take administrative decisions to run the day-to-day affairs of universities despite the completion of university syndicates, adding that even the appointments made by the VCs would be subject to the approval of the CM and the bureaucratic body.

He said that all university teachers and staff are against the impugned law, adding that the intention, aims and objectives of legislation should always be bona fide and in the welfare and interest of the general public and not to sledgehammer the public by imposing unwanted and illegal laws.

The Pasban chief said the controversial law snatched the autonomy enjoyed by the institution of higher education and inducted a majority of provincial bureaucrats in the body for fulfilling their whims and desires.

The court’s division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar directed the provincial law officer to file comments on the petition by October 2. The petitioner’s counsel Irfan Aziz also sought time to submit a copy of the controversial law in court.